A QUIET
STAND OF ALDERS
"The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth
All
set
neere
to
him
long
flourisheth."
--
William
Browne,
c.
1613

Welcome
to
the
web
page
of
Stanley
Rice,
author
and
botanist.

Welcome to A Quiet Stand of Alders, the author
website of Stanley Rice, a science educator
and writer. If you care passionately about the natural world and its
evolutionary history, this website is for you.
Here you will find essays about ecology,
evolution; and ethical, political, and religious issues connected with
them. I intend my approach as constructive, although I do not hold back
from criticism when the facts demand it. At the same time, I want to
preserve a context of peaceful meditation, such as you will find in a
quiet stand of alder trees down by the river. Peace and zeal are the
fire and ice of a scientist, an educator, an evolutionist, or a
naturalist. About every week, a new essay will be posted. You can
find all of the old essays in the archives.
I am embedded in the creationist and
anti-environmentalist heartland of rural Oklahoma and will report to
you from the front lines! I consider myself a missionary for evolution
and ecology.
Please feel free to contact me at
the email below, or
by
posting comments on my evolution
blog.

Altruism: The Third Alternative for Ecology and Evolution

March 11, 2012

I recently read a book entitled The Penguin and the Leviathan, by
Yochai Benkler, a leading scholar in business research. I have read
many books about altruism, many of them by scientists such as Frans
deWaal (The Age of Empathy), Dacher Keltner (Born to Be Good), and Martin Nowak (Super Cooperators).
These books repeatedly make the point that individuals within animal
species, individual humans, and businesses can profit from being nice
and generous to others. Altruism, rather than violent competition, is
the most important component of "the law of the jungle." Just ask any of
the chimps that deWaal has studied. The way to the top is primarily
through cooperation, not violent competition. Even apes understand this.
Benkler's book is published by Crown Business, a division of a major
New York publisher. Its intended audience is not science buffs but
business leaders. In the title, the Penguin is Tux, the icon of Linux,
whose business model is cooperation rather than top-down command, and
the Leviathan is the cynical view of life presented centuries ago by
Thomas Hobbes.

Benkler, though not a scientist, has done a very good job of summarizing
the evolutionary science of altruism. But the thing that opened my eyes
the most was that Benkler presented altruism as a third alternative for
how a society could operate. The other two ways are state control and
free market. We usually think that these are our only two choices. But,
as Benkler explains, this is not true.

Both state control (as exemplified by dictators on the political right
or the political left) and free market economics operate from the
assumption that humans are fundamentally selfish. State control attempts
to force people to not be selfish. The free market tries to capitalize
upon those utterly selfish economic machines known as humans. But
Benkler points out that altruism is a fundamental instinct of the human
mind. As Michael Shermer said, it feels good to be good; humans enjoy
being altruistic. Altruism motivates much of what we do.

Our only hope, from Benkler's viewpoint, is to build our society and
economic system in a way that facilitates altruism. Governments should
not try to solve all social and economic problems by law and by creating
big agencies; governments should be (in my words) conduits of the
altruism that already exists in people's minds. Governments should be
altruism enablers. Similarly businesses should embrace altruism,
appealing to their customers' instincts to want to create a better world
for everybody. Customers are selfish, but also altruistic. Customers
are increasingly offended by corporations that display conspicuous
selfishness; that assume the customers are merely selfish; or that use
little greenwashing gimmicks to make themselves look environmentally
friendly or socially altruistic. We customers are not stupid, nor are we
totally selfish. We are (some of us more than others) partly altruistic
and we expect our governments and businesses to also be altruistic.

Benkler makes the point that right now, when dictatorships are falling
and the free market has proven ineffective enough that it has shaken the
very faith of Alan Greenspan himself, is the time when altruism has a
chance to influence the very structure of the economy and government.
Governments and business CEOs have been good only at spending money,
with disastrous consequences that nobody can ignore any longer.

Altruism, perhaps the greatest gift of evolution, is also the only way
to solve our environmental problems. Neither of the other alternatives,
government fiat or the profit motive by itself, have significantly
deflected our worldwide momentum toward ecological disaster.

January-March 2008April-June 2008July-September 2008October-December 2008January-March 2009
(includes
The Sabbath of
the Earth)April-June 2009
(includes The End of Altruismand If Humans Vanished...)July-September 2009
(includes You Are an
Ecosystem)October-December 2009
(includes Absurd Creativity
and Fiscal Responsibility --
In Plants)January-March 2010
(includes Deep Time and Deep
Intestinesand The Evolution of
Spite)April-June 2010
(includes My Neighbors' Earthand Trying to Interfere
with Natural Selection)July-September 2010
(includes Global Warming—It's
Happening Now
and Green Is the New Green)October-December 2010
(includes Degrees of Freedom
and I Humbly Suggest that Scientists
Should Rule the World)January-March 2011
Peace Be Unto You
Do Republican Leaders Hate God's Creation?
A Christian View of Creation
Biodiversity, Part One
Biodiversity, Part Two
Biodiversity, Part Three
Biodiversity, Part Four
The Capacity for Evil
So Where Is Global Warming Now?
The Evolved Human Mind
Judgment of the Future
How Dark Was My ValleyApril-July 2011
Relief
Oath Upon the Earth
The Long Emergency
The Dangerous Conservative Viewpoint
Cottonwood Investments, Part 2
Disruptive Energy
Biodiversity and Noah's Ark: The
Solution You've Been Waiting For
Built to Last
How to Reduce Our Impact on the EarthJuly-September 2011
Where Have All the Scarecrows Gone?
Less Hope Now than Ever?
You Can’t Do Just One Thing
Our Great Big Opportunity
What Rick Perry Thinks About Science
The Murder of Altruism?
How I Spent September 11
A Celebration of Evolutionary ScienceOctober-December 2011
Republican States: Socialist Beneficiaries of Big Government Altruism?
Dinosaur Prints
The Quiet Stand of Alders: Wildfire and Recovery
So What Has Changed Since 2008?
A Revolutionary Vision
Home Sweet Home
Beauty and Survival
Laboratory Earth
Warm Winter ThoughtsJanuary-March 2012
The Evolution of a New Economy?
In Memory of Lynn Margulis
Equilibrium Economy?
Exuberant Chaos